Polygamous-sect leader Warren Jeffs is Arizona-bound

PHOENIX — Polygamous-sect leader Warren Jeffs should be in Arizona late this month or in early March to face charges in the marriages of two teenage girls and older men, an Arizona prosecutor said Monday.

He said Utah officials are signing the last of their paperwork and making arrangements, and the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office has to coordinate with Utah authorities as to when they can pick Jeffs up.

Jeffs will have an initial appearance once he gets to Arizona, but Smith said it’s unclear when his trial will start.

“He’s got attorneys and they’re going to file motions, and we’re going to have hearings and interviews and depositions,” he said.

Jeffs’ lawyer, Mike Piccarreta, said he has been requesting that Jeffs be brought to Arizona as soon as possible so he can get the fair trial he didn’t get in Utah. Jeffs is serving two consecutive terms of five years to life in prison on his conviction there on two counts of rape by accomplice.

“We wanted this process to begin sooner rather than later, and we’re hoping that it’s about to begin,” Piccarreta said. “Mr. Jeffs did not get a fair shake in Utah, and in large part due to where the trial was located, and I think unless Mr. Jeffs gets a trial in a fair venue here in Arizona, any outcome is subject to public skepticism, and properly so.”

He said he will continue with his plan to ask the judge in the case to move the trial outside of Kingman because of its proximity to the Utah trial.